Chinese firm plans to build about 500 battery swap stations for passenger cars, heavy trucks

Chinese clean energy provider GCL Energy Technology Co plans to raise up to RMB 5 billion ($781 million) through a private placement for projects including the construction of battery swap stations for new energy vehicles.

When the project is fully completed, it will add a total of 488 battery swap stations, the Shenzhen-listed company said in a June 14 announcement.

The announcement shows that the company plans to build about 313 new battery swap stations for passenger cars and 175 battery swap stations for heavy trucks in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Guangdong by leasing sites.

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Among them, the design capacity of a single passenger car battery swap station is to provide battery swap service for 100 vehicles per day, and the annual battery swap capacity for passenger cars is 11.55 million kilometers.

The design capacity of a single battery swap station for heavy trucks is 40 vehicles per day, and the annual battery swap capacity for heavy trucks is 3,740,000 km.

The overall construction period of these battery swap stations is planned to be 2 years, and the construction will be carried out in batches. The investment in the construction of a single battery swap station for passenger cars is approximately RMB 5,072,000, and the investment in the construction of a single battery swap station for heavy trucks is approximately RMB 101,514,000.

China's new energy vehicle production and sales increased slightly in May compared to April, with production and sales both at 217,000 vehicles, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) statistics.

China's new energy vehicle production and sales in 2020 reached 1.366 million units and 1.367 million units, an increase of 7.5 percent and 10.9 percent from a year ago, respectively.

At present, there is a large shortage of new energy vehicle charging piles and a large space for industrial development.

As of December 2020, the total number of battery swap stations in China is 555, askci.com data show.

In the passenger car segment, Nio is the top promoter of battery swap models. The company aims to reach 500 battery swap stations by the end of this year, with its 250th battery swap station coming online last week.